Do Men and Women View Retirement Differently?

Joe Coughlin, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab.

Men and women look at retirement differently, says Joe Coughlin, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab. Watch to find out what men and women can learn from each other while planning for retirement. (2:12)

Key Points

There are many commonalities, but men and women have different outlooks on retirement, according to research from the MIT AgeLab.

Both men and women emphasize the importance of family, but men tend to focus on their significant others where women also mention children, grandchildren, siblings and close friends.

Volunteering, part-time work and caregiving are priorities for women; men tend to think of retirement as a reward and look forward to time for leisure pursuits.

While there are many common retirement dreams — recreation, travel, time with family or simply more time to do what we want — recent research suggests our gender may affect how we look at life after work.

The MIT AgeLab conducted a series of in-depth interviews and found that men and women may view retirement differently and that can impact how both genders plan for retirement. Discover the results>>

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